See Mentor's new breast implant

Dennis Hammond, MD from Grand Rapids, MI is one of the country's foremost breast implant experts. Below, you can see him showing off Mentor's form stable implant. Officially known as Contour Profile Gel implants, they retain their shape if ruptured.

From Dr. Hammond:

The CPG has been performing very well in both aesthetic and reconstructive breast surgery cases. The shapes satisfy the myriad of needs of a wide group of patients, in a simple and easy to use fashion. The Bodylogic system (Ed. Note: Mentor's breast implant sizing system) is easily applied to the use of these devices. Rotation is rare, rupture nearly unheard, and the results have been outstanding.:

These implants, as well as those from competitor Allergan, have been undergoing FDA testing, so as always, no word on when they will be available for use in the US. We'll be back in a few months with an update on these upcoming technologies.

Dr. Jason Pozner

Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Dr. David J. Goldberg

Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Skin Laser Surgery Specialists NY/NJ

Only in Japan: eating collagen to stay young

The Telegraph in the UK is reporting that collagen is the hot anti-aging treatment in Japan. Eating the collagen, that is:

"Dishes which are naturally rich in collagen such as pigs trotters, shark fin and chicken skin have also soared in popularity and are appearing on menus in restaurants as anti-ageing specials.

Sales of collagen hot pots - known as "nabe" ­ at 7,300 outlets of the convenience store chain Family Mart have also sold more than double their initial target since going on sale last November, according to reports."

As part of our anti-aging services at SMAC in Boca Raton, we have hormone replacement specialist Dr. Mitchell Matez, who, as our website says, one of the best at separating fact from fantasy when it comes to things like this.


"Absorption and assimilation of oral collagen is questionable," he said. "Just providing the collagen doesn't mean it will benefit the skin and tissues without the multitude of other nutrients and co-factors that would be involved... I think topical application would be most effective. Probably a fad and I suspect many are making big money off it. Can't hurt to eat it, though."

I agree... let's wait for some controlled clinical studies before we begin assessing these claims.

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

IMCAS Wrap Up: Day 2

Drs. Michael Kane and Mark Jewell presented the initial science behind Liposonix, while Dr. Afschin Fatemi from Germany presented his early clinical experiences. Most interesting were the combined deep and superficial treatments he performed with this ultrasound device. Dr. Goldberg recently talked about ultrasound devices with Self Magazine (PDF).

Dieter Manstein, MD presented his work with the Zeltiq cryolipolysis device, which Dr. Goldberg is also working with for a clinical study. For the uninitiated, Cryolipolysis is a patented method that removes fat via a precise cooling process.

It's going to be an interesting next few years with the war between the fat removal devices. We posted on this a few months ago after the ASPS conference. Dr. Goldberg was a coauthor of an abstract recently presented about the early clinical wok with the Zeltiq device.

Here's Dr. Goldberg sharing a moment with Bob Tyson from Zeltiq at their booth:

On another note, it was standing room only in the lectures about fractional laser resurfacing. Many physicians presented about the different fractional lasers out there, including Dr. Goldberg and myself. I spoke about fractional laser complications as did Dr. Christopher Zachary shown in the photo below sharing a moment with Dr. Michael Kane.

Live from Paris: Ultrashape Presentations

Dr. Steve Mulholland of Toronto, Dr. Chris Inglefield of England and Dr. Michael Scheflan all presented along with me at the Ultrashape Symposium at IMCAS. I spoke about the U.S. FDA trial while the my colleagues presented their respective experiences and the worldwide big picture.

With more than 100,000 treatments performed worldwide, Ultrashape is proving to be a safe, effective mode of fat removal. Here are some pictures from the conference:

Selling Botox on Ebay: Not a Good Idea

A woman in Mansfield, Texas is selling Botox on Ebay for about 95 cents per unit, which is literally pennies on the dollar for its fair market value.

This is very illegal, and very dangerous. She intends to sell this to cost-conscious people without any medical training, for use on themselves.

On her Instructions and FAQs page on BotoxDepot.com (her website since 2005), she outlines how to inject oneself, with tips like, "Do three-four for each crowsfoot, five for your forehead midway between your eyebrows and hairline, and if you have that frown line between your brows then do three more evenly spaced there. That's it- you are done. Just saved yourself a couple hundred bucks! It will last just as if you had it done in a spa- about 5-6 months before you can start to tell it is fading."

On her website, she also sells Restylane, but spelled as Restylin.

She also assures everyone that her products are genuine and she is a MedSpa worker in Dallas, and thus can get the product very cheaply. Something doesn't add up, as Allergan wholesales Botox to legitimate doctors for 5-6 times more than what she's selling it at.

Several news stations in Dallas are working on this right now, and law enforcement won't be far behind.

Dr. David Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists NY/NJ

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Breaking: FDA extends review date for Reloxin

Reuters is reporting that the FDA has extended the initial review of Ipsen's botulinum Type A toxin product, Reloxin, anticipated as the first American competitor to Botox.

According to Ipsen, the FDA also confirmed that their Wales facility for manufacturing the product is in compliance with their regulations.

Dr. David Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Glimpse of the future at IMCAS conference...

There are a wide variety of excellent cosmetic dermatology and plastic surgery meetings in the US each year. However, there are almost no meetings in the US where these 2 groups can learn from each other. This is not true in Paris where the annual International Masters Course on Aging Skin (IMCAS) meets from January 8-11, 2009. This international forum brings cosmetic dermatologists, plastic surgeons and other aesthetic physicians all under one roof at the Palais des Congress de Paris – the major meeting convention center in Paris.

IMCAS, a meeting that I have co-directed for almost a decade, represents the place where US dermatologists and plastic surgeons have a chance to learn about a variety of cosmetic treatments not yet available in the US. Similarly the large US faculty, including Dr. Pozner and myself have the opportunity to teach our colleagues from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East about some of the latest techniques that are popular in the US – yet not available elsewhere in the world.

The topics run the full gamut from true surgical procedures, to the latest in lasers, fillers and botulinum toxins – as well advances in the treatment of cellulite, skin stem cell anti-aging advances for beautiful skin and mesotherapy.

The 20 US physicians who will teach at this meeting will not only bring US knowledge to their international peers, but will come back with the latest cosmetic treatments for our US patients as well. Stay tuned in a couple of weeks for highlights of the meeting.

David J. Goldberg, MD

Skin Laser & Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Jason Pozner, MD

Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Ultrashape featured on Good Morning America

Link.

Video is on the site, which features Dr. Ari Benchetrit from Montreal and a patient demonstrating the much anticipated ultrasound fat reduction and body contouring device from Ultrashape.

"Patients spend a half hour under the UltraShape machine, and the sound waves converge to hit the fat cells under the skin and make them vibrate at a very high speed, causing them to be destroyed. Experts say the fat is then carried to the liver, where it is removed from your body safely. But the procedure is not for everyone.

"This is not a weight loss procedure. This is not for somebody who really needs to lose a lot of weight," Benchetrit said."

The official word from Ultrashape: "The company plans to complete the clinical study early this year but it is premature to speculate on the timing of FDA approval and availability in the U.S."

Thanks for reading,
Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists, NY/NJ